but I don't wanna!

I sometimes hear that from my kids at the kitchen table when they don't want to eat something.

There are certain foods that they genuinely do not like.  Pumpkin does NOT like tomatoes.  Boo does NOT like mushrooms.  So I don't feed it to them, or I sneak it in or let them pick it out.  I don't like tomatoes or cooked mushrooms either, but if you put them in front of me, I will eat them even though I will not enjoy it.

Generally I have a zero tolerance for picky-ness when it comes to food.  The motto at my table is "you get what you get, and you don't get upset".  If you are "not hungry" then the food I made will be there when you are hungry....even if that means you're eating it for breakfast.

I don't expect them to like everything they eat, but I expect them to try a mouthful or 2.  If then you still don't like it, then I will offer an alternative, or just remove it.

I don't buy this excuse "well, they just pick it off so why bother" or "they're only kids, they'll grow out of it"  WE as parents have a responsibility to help our kids learn healthy eating habits...that may mean making them eat things they don't want to....like veggies.

I recently read an article about a girl who has only eaten cheese pizza since she was 2.  I call that poor parenting.  My kids would only eat mac and cheese (home made) every day if I let them.  But I don't.  Why? because they are young and don't know what they NEED - they only know what they WANT. 
When they are 2, sure all they want to eat is pizza, chicken fingers, etc.  Of course it's EASY to give in and it's HARD to say no and stick to your guns.  I recall a 45 minute fight with Boo over eating carrots.  The result, he eat his carrots and he continues to eat them regularly.  He doesn't do that with every thing he has to eat which it totally fine.

I also let them have a say in what they eat.  I will offer them a choice, like  do you want peas or broccoli.  And then they have some control.  They like little things like that. 

This was inspired by a parent I know who recently gave their kid a mayo sandwich on white bread for lunch.  First of all, white bread has almost zero nutrition  and Mayo is NOT a good group.  it is a condiment.  "well...he'll just pick the mean off if I give it to him....."  yeah - if you LET him.  By letting him you're telling him that it's OK.  I know people who like to eat the parts of their sandwich separately.  they will eat the bread, then the cheese, the lettuce and the meat all separately.  That's different.

I guess my point is that if you let your kids pick over their food, you will have picky eaters.  Letting them get away with not eating their veggies, or picking everything apart and only eating what they want is just poor parenting.

I forgot about those

I take my kids to a club at the Salvation Army church called CLICK (children learning in Christs kingdom) We made friends with the pastors of the church and through conversation, they learned that I have my black belt in Karate. They asked me if I would do some karate one night, so I sent them a lay out of what I was thinking and how long it would take approximately. I left all my weapons back in Toronto but a piece of doweling would work nicely for a Bo and I can use it again in the future for something else (like making hobby horses for the kids - that might make a cool Christmas present) Now the challenge, how much do I remember after not training in almost 8 months? and how many muscles will I use that I have forgotten existed? It turns out that I remember the kata's that I wanted to demonstrate! However, my muscles are not as forgiving. Before I resigned from Karate because we were moving, I was training 3 times a week for 90 minutes a session, plus I would train a bit at home (space was limited, so there was only so much I could do) I said I needed a 3 week warning before I was to do it, but I think that I should start trying to get back into shape now and give my muscles a chance to forgive me.

What happened to the snow?

This is a question Pumpkin asks me frequently. We live in the Maritimes and are only a 15 minute walk from the ocean. Actually, if you walk to the top of my street, you can see the ocean. So this is the typical weather pattern of winter here: Rain + mild Rain + mild Rain + mild Windy + COLD Snow + cold Snow + mild Rain + mild Rain + mild Rain + mild Windy + COLD So as you can see, it does snow, but then it gets warm and rains, then freezes, then the process starts all over again. I now also understand why the Inuit have over 26 names for snow. The last snow fall dropped perfect wet packing snow. So the next day we tried to make a snow man but the temperature was dropping and freezing the packing snow, so it was a bit of a challenge. However, we did manage to kind of get one up. It was more like a snow blob than a man. It was a mound for a body and a head on top. Rocks for the face and the kids put as many sticks as they could find in the snow man. It looking more like some kind of alien snow blob with a dozen arms protruding from obscure places. They were proud of it, and I tried not to laugh. I didn't get a chance to take a picture and you guessed it....it rained and rained last night, so now the poor thing has melted quite a bit and looks like a snow pile with sticks sticking out of it. However, there is good news. I build the kids little snow fort inthe back yard and that seems to be holding up!

Prayer for Chocolate

I've never really observed Lent before. I know it's a time of fasting or abstinence from things for the 40 days proceeding Easter where we remember Jesus spending 40 days in the dessert before He started His ministry.

I thought this year what I should sacrifice. What do I think about, what do I really enjoy? Is there a food or an activity? I don't really watch TV (kinda hard with no cable) When I go grocery shopping, or have to run a quick errand to the store I am always tempted to buy chocolate, and I usually give in.

But not for the next 40 days.

No chocolate.



The stores are stuffed with easter chocolate bunnies and eggs. The dollar store has an entire isle dedicated solely to easter stuff and a separate isle just for chocolate.
The grocery store and shoppers have chocolate at the checkout line, plus other displays.

It's everywhere I look.

So I decided to take my lent fast one step further. When I am tempted to buy chocolate, or I want to eat it, I will spend some time in prayer.

I'm replacing chocolate with prayer. If Lent is designed in part to sacrifice and grow closer to God, then when I feel tempted, it makes sense to run to God. Even though it's only chocolate, it can lay down foundation to run to Him for other more important things that kit-kat bars.